New Delhi: Calling the offence “most heinous, inhuman and barbaric in nature”, a Special CBI court Wednesday junked the bail plea of the prime accused in the 4 May 2023 gangrape of a Kuki women in Manipur’s Kangpokpi, where she was also paraded naked with two other women.
Mere prolonged incarceration can’t be a ground for bail, the court has held.
The case is the “most sensational” In the conflict-ridden state, drawing the glare nationally, as well as internationally, the court noted Wednesday, while hearing the bail plea of Ningombam Tomba Singh.
Months after the incident, a video of the women being paraded naked was posted online, sparking widespread outrage and condemnation.
Earlier, the women had identified Ningombam Tomba Singh as one of the main accused, who also killed the father of one of the three victims, before forcing her to remove her clothes in public and assaulting and raping her in front of her younger brothers.
Manipur Police first arrested Tomba Singh in July 2023, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) later secured his custody after the case was transferred to the central agency. Tomba Singh has been in jail for more than two years now.
The CBI, over the course of the investigation, had arrested six accused—Huirem Herodas Meitei, Arun Khundongbam, Tomba Singh, Yumlembam Jiban Singh, Pukhrihongbam Suranjoy Meite, and Nameirakpam Kiran Meitei—and apprehended a minor in the case.
Earlier this month, the CBI court framed charges against all six, including under sections 376 (2)(g) and (D), which deal with offences amounting to rape, committed during communal or sectarian violence and gang rape, respectively.
“Mere long incarceration of the accused, as contended by the learned counsel appearing for the accused, alone, is not the exact parameter to consider the prayer for bail in the face of the barbaric and heinous nature of crime committed by the perpetrators at will,” the special judge has observed in the order.
“This is a most sensational case in Manipur, which draws the attention not only at the national level but also in the international arena,” the judge said Wednesday. “What period may be considered as prolonged incarceration depends on the nature of crimes committed by the accused persons. The fact that the accused has been in judicial custody since 20.07.2023, and the charge-sheet has been filed, is no ground to release the accused on bail in the face of the gravity of the crime.”
Further, the court has junked the argument of Tomba Singh to be allowed parity with the two other accused, granted bail by the Gauhati High Court. Parity is not the law, the court has held, saying that it has to consider the specific charges levelled against the bail applicant.
“While applying the principle of parity, the court is required to focus upon the role attached to the accused whose application is under consideration,” the judge highlighted Wednesday. “In the instant case, witnesses, particularly the victim, had clearly narrated the direct involvement of the present accused in the gory incident of daylight rape and murder of two persons, which affects the conscience of humanity at large. Moreover, the victims of the crime are yet to be examined as witnesses.”
The order comes, as the Kuki-Meitei conflict continues in Manipur. Earlier this month, a Meitei man, Mayanglambam Rishikanta Singh, was killed by people, who are suspected to be militants with Kuki outfits. The victim was visiting his fiancée, a Kuki woman, after she had already sought permission from the Kuki National Organisation and local authorities.
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‘Touches the conscience of everyone sensible’
An FIR was filed in Kangpokpi district in May 2023, when a village head had approached the police, saying that a large number of people—suspected to be members of the pro-Meitei outfits—set his village on fire on 4 May 2023.
Meitei Youth Organisations, Meetei Leepun, Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKI), Arambai Tenggol, World Meitei Council (WMC), and the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee (STDC) are named in the FIR.
According to the village head, five residents, including three women, and the father and brother of one of the women, had fled the site of violence. A police team had rescued them, but a mob snatched the civilians from the police before forcing the women to remove their clothes. The mob killed the father and brother of one of the women. Later, the women managed to flee the spot with the help of locals known to them.
Drawing on allegations levelled against the accused and findings of a CBI probe into the matter, the judge said Tomba Singh’s fundamental rights under Article 21 cannot be kept at the same level as the sufferings of the women.
“As contended by the learned counsel appearing for the accused that accused was arrested by Nongpok Sekmai Police on 20.07.2023 and since then he has been in judicial incarceration, which violated his fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, but while considering the bail prayer of the accused, the court cannot place the act of the perpetrators of crime, and the sufferance of the victims and the interest of the society on the same scale as the act allegedly committed by the accused, are most heinous, inhuman and barbaric in nature, which touches the conscience of every sensible human being,” he observed.
The judge emphasised that both the witnesses and the victims clearly narrated the exact role played by Tomba Singh. He also did not rule out intimidation of the victims, who are yet to be examined as witnesses in the trial proceedings, due to persistent hostilities between the Kuki and Meitei communities in the state.
“Given the sensational nature of the case, geographical position and undercurrent hostilities, enmities and hatred that persist between the two communities of Kukis and Meiteis, there is every likelihood of the victims being influenced or threatened by the accused person in the event he is released on bail. Therefore, taking a conspectus view of the matter, this court is of the considered view that this is not a fit case to release accused Ningombam Tomba Singh on bail,” the judge concluded.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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